December 2019 Grocery Challenge

boultdj

Delivery last night, with the extra Christmas goodies and furry owner's stuff came to £86.25:eek:, so total is up to £290 and 11 day's for the £10 that's left to last, finger's crossed it's only bread I'm going to need.:o

ancientmum

Almost there, nearly at the end of the annual challenge and it looks like I'm ahead of the budget. I think there are at least two reasons for this. One cat sadly had to rejoin the stars in the sky at the beginning of the year (his brother is still alive and scratching) and fewer takeaways were indulged in as DS3 has spent less time at home. I go to DS1 and family for Christmas dinner so don't have the big seasonal shop and cook any more although they do come to me for New Year's day.
Good wishes to all those of you catering for families and friends, the media make out that it has to be perfect, and faceache doesn't help, but really it is just a big roast dinner. One year I was entertaining all my family and the oven broke. We ended up with cutting up the half cooked turkey and braising it in gravy on the hob. Nobody died. Another year the dog ate half the turkey as it was resting. Nobody knew.
Awful at the time but looking back all part of life's rich tapestry..

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[Deleted User]

My last week on this challenge and I will probably spend most of what's left in the budget. Really happy with how I've done this month. Previous months I've had to top up the grocery budget mid-month so I'll be signing up for the Jan 2020 thread to keep me focused.

Thanks to elsiepac for running the thread.

pamsdish

Popped to shops, out of brandy, but that`s a different budget, so with odds and ends call it a tenner.

PipneyJane

thriftwizard wrote: »

It's a tempting thought, a £50 February (£100 for us, as there are 4 of us?) BUT if I did that, I'd be hurting the traders, shopkeepers & craftspeople (e.g. the baker, the miller) I buy most of our food from. Not massively, but a bit, at a hard time of year. So I might do a no-supermarket month instead. And commit a regular sum to support our local food bank.

Sounds good to me.

In all seriousness, I am not certain I will do "£50 February" next year. However, I am seriously considering writing up a thread for posterity, complete with shopping list and recipes but that may not happen until March.... The deciding factor is time, since I am committed to a 4 hour commute for at least 3-days a week in January and February. (I am someone's temporary cover at work.)

- Pip


PS: More back on topic, my husband scored the leftover roast veggies (potatoes, carrots and parsnips) from his office Christmas lunch so, last night, I made a "potato bake" for dinner. (Fried up a YS black pudding, tossed some chopped up roast potatoes, carrots and parsnip in the fat, combined 4 eggs with half a pint of plain yoghurt and poured that over the top. Covered with some grated cheddar and baked at 180C for 30 minutes. No waste and a reasonably healthy meal.)

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

£136.25/£150 £44.25 cat food

Hello all, i've been reading when i can but as computer sites are monitored at work i've not been able to post.
I have been keeping a careful track of food spends - so last week / couple of weeks ago was £21.08 - 1 big shop and 2 little top ups

And this week / last week was the rest - super quick post whilst i can get on. I've really enjoyed this thread. There's a few more things i wanted to get for Christmas week but i looked at money i had left to spend and reduced it down to needs This way i am hopeful to stay on track.

I have my list and will be shopping from it later and that will be it - shopping is until 26th for me but i won't be in a shop again after today but will update in case there's a slip up

I am going to change my target next year and will aim for £100 month for food, toiletries, cleaning products for 2 adults. I am going to record the cat food spending so i am aware of what i'm spending but that is all. The reason being is we will go without to stay within budget and that will never happen with our cats - we will buy them whatever they need when they need it - sometimes they like an expensive food - twice the price of their usual food, others just the usual - still not cheap. Because i can't reduce their food i won't include it in the target - hope this makes sense.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

a food bank run round and filled a box with some nice things for people not managing.

It was my absolute pleasure to drop this off where things were going full pelt at one of the local Trussell Trust places. It does mean I am almost £40 down on what I am spending so fewer treats for us (I bet nobody here notices!). That is 20% of my Christmas budget I have given to Charity now as I also gave a lump on-line to Salvation Army who do so much for lonely and homeless people.

It is a bit off message for this thread but I think it helps me put my economising into perspective. Aside from the shock that in the fifth most wealthy economy in the World we have people living in poverty. It does not sit lightly with me.

Many SMs have a basket or box in their lobby or by the tills if anyone here feels able to pick up an extra packet, tin, or selection box, and help someone else at this time. I know my local food bank were delighted, and I am sure all of them feel the same.

Thank you Suffolk lass i have volunteered for a charity recently and offered to help another over Christmas feeding those in need. I will give some thought as to what i can do for food banks for the new year - struggling to make ends meet here at the moment and this thread has been a real help for me not whacking treats on the credit card to make us feel better that we can have something nice and not yellow stickered or out of date in Scrap that - i will see if i can pop something in a box at the supermarket tonight :T Thank you SL for the nudge

Doom_and_Gloom

Last shop was Wednesday and we spent £12.30.

I'm still trying to figure out what to have for dinner tonight, my conditions are getting the better of me today, and I'm on my own tonight, but I have food in the fridge I have to get through before I go round my parents for Christmas .
OH is at a friend's tonight for dinner and they will likely have takeaway, either pizza or chinese. That comes out of the entertainment budget though.

£152.29/£215.
£62.71 left.

We are a little over budget right now. However, I believe, we have everything in needed for our Yule dinner on Sunday (OH even got a beef joint out the freezer to defrost as he wants a slow roast joint). If I have planed correctly we will have NSD's tomorrow and Sunday and the budget evens back out :beer:.

Mrs_Cheshire

Morning all, just done a quick calculation and I'm going to be over budget this month, but we've got plenty of food in which should mean January is a leaner month.

Need to finalise the food plans for the couple of days after Christmas and then I'm done for the year.

Thinking about the new year I need to find some more meat free/low cost meals and to build some more variety into our foods, as we seem to be eating a lot of the same meals - sausages and mash, meatballs and pasta, chicken pesto pasta, steak and sweet potato fries, sweet & sour with rice/noddles, breaded chicken with chips etc.

I've got some gnocci to try (we've had it in a Hell* fresh box previously), don't know what to serve it with.

Thinking about planning meals around a themed day i.e.
Meat free monday

I have a slow cooker so want to utilise that for a couple of meals a week, also thinking of batch cooking to save time and energy, but would have to make slightly different meals as we wouldn't eat bolagnese every week!

Hope everyone has a fabulous time this festive season xx

thriftwizard

Plot basically lost here! I've added £80 to my total as that's how much I spent yesterday, BUT some of that was festive fare rather than everyday food from the "normal" budget. But against that, I must set the fact that I've lost track of a couple of small top-up spends this week, so I think it's about right.

If the shops suddenly announced they were shutting their doors tonight for a week, we'd be fine now! Our smallholder friend is delivering The Bird on Monday, but we already have a big gammon awaiting my attention and a side of salmon in the freezer. We'll be 7 on Christmas Day itself and 9-12 for most of the week after; I'm hoping for lots of leftovers (I even have some I made earlier stashed in the freezer just in case!) but whether or no, we'll cope now. There'll be very few food traders at the market next weekend as many of the suppliers are closing down for 2 weeks, and who can blame them?

I may sashay down to the market tomorrow for a few optional extras, which I will count into the normal monthly spend although there is still some money left in the festive fund. But basically we're all in now.